The elimination of snoring and the various degrees of hypopnea and apnea have been attempted because of their various effects on the body. Such conditions typically occur due to pathological disturbances during sleep. One of the reasons of sleep disturbance is due to the tongue relaxing to varying degrees. When fully awake, the tongue has a normal tone and position within the mouth as air passes in and out of the lungs during respiration. As shown in FIG. 1A, a partial cross-sectional view of a patient's P oral cavity is illustrated showing a natural position of the patient's tongue T and the positioning of the soft palate SP. Patency of the airway passage AP between the posterior wall of the pharynx and the base of the tongue B is illustrated to show the normal unobstructed airway when the tongue T is retained in its natural position.
However, during sleep, as the tongue becomes lax it may collapse against the posterior wall of the pharynx not only causing snoring, but also obstructing the passage of air to the lungs. As shown in FIG. 1B, the tongue T is shown in its relaxed and collapsed state illustrating the base of the tongue B pushing against the soft palate SP and also obstructing the airway passage AP.
Conditions such as sleep apnea not only causes drops in the blood oxygenation level, but and may also adversely affect the heart by increasing blood pressure and pulse rate. Many aspects of a person's quality of life, such as a person's physical and emotional health, are affected by obstructive sleep apnea.
A number of conventional treatments exist. For example, conventional treatments such as mask and nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices are typically utilized but compliance is poor and may cause discomfort in the user. Other treatments such as tongue retaining devices are typically made of soft plastic and utilize a tongue-shaped cavity to hold and maintain the tongue in a forward position. Such devices physically clamp onto the tongue using a mechanical grip or retain a portion of the tongue by utilizing a suction device. However, these methods may generally fail due to discomfort by having the tongue compressed or the suction may fail, thereby releasing the tongue to collapse against the pharyngeal wall.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system which maintains the patency of a person's airways during sleep and which is comfortable enough and easy to use to facilitate compliance by the user.